Police sergeant shoots officer, woman during struggle

Belmont police responded to a New Year's Eve shooting about an hour after dark inside a gated community in which an officer and a woman suffered gunshot wounds.

Wade Allen

A police sergeant’s submachine gun fired during a struggle on New Year’s Eve resulting in a fellow officer and a woman being shot in the leg with the same round, according to Belmont police.

The incident began with police responding to a reported road rage incident at 3260 Lake Pointe Drive in the gated Reflection Pointe subdivision.

While there, Belmont police officers struggled with 24-year-old Melissa Verner, who lives at the home with her parents Glenn and Andrea Verner. During the altercation, Sgt. Brad Pickert’s compact Colt 9 mm submachine gun fired a single round, according to police.

Officer Randy Berry and Melissa Verner suffered shrapnel wounds to the leg after the round from the gun hit concrete and broke apart. Both were transported to Gaston Memorial Hospital. Berry was discharged Tuesday afternoon, Verner remained hospitalized in stable condition.

Pickert is on paid administrative leave pending an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigaton and an internal investigation by Belmont Police Department.

Road rage?

Four Belmont officers arrived at the Verner’s home with guns drawn after receiving a call about road rage outside the gate to the neighborhood. Belmont Police Chief Charlie Franklin said Rod Singer of Belmont reported a man in a blue Honda Civic tailgated him on South Point Road, flashing his headlights.

The Honda and Singer’s vehicle stopped at the gate to Reflection Pointe and Singer reported hearing a noise and seeing what he thought was a muzzle flash. The Honda, driven by 21-year-old Brandon Carl Watts of Belmont, proceeded through the gate and Singer waited for police, Franklin said.

Officers quickly tracked the tag number on the Honda to the Verner’s home. Franklin said the sedan is registered to Glenn and Andrea Verner.

Watts is Melissa Verner’s boyfriend, police say.

When police arrived at the home, they confronted Andrea Verner and Watts in the garage.

“They were just told to get on the ground and the officers were trying to assess what went on and trying to locate the weapon to see what happened,” Franklin said. “At this point, officers are approaching (the home) and their train of thought is there’s a suspect inside of this home with a gun who just fired at another person.”

Then Melissa Verner came out of the home and into the garage and became “belligerent” with officers as their guns were drawn, Franklin said. Police say she used profanity toward the officers.

Franklin said Andrea Verner and Watts were both cooperative. Glenn Verner later came out of the home and he was also cooperative. Melissa Verner was reportedly not and a physical struggle ensued in the garage that ended with Berry and Pickert on the ground trying to apprehend her, police say.

“As brief as we know from speaking with the officers they felt like that she was attempting to grab the officer’s weapon,” Franklin said. “It was pretty much chaos in the struggle. It was inside of a garage with several cars inside the garage. It was pretty much a small confined area where they were at.”

Watts is being investigated as a suspect in the road rage incident but no charges have been filed and on Tuesday afternoon, he was not in police custody. Melissa Verner may face a charge of resisting, delaying and obstructing an officer, but that has yet to be determined, Franklin said.

Franklin said there are questions as to whether a piece of equipment hit the gun, Pickert fired the shot or Verner somehow pulled the trigger during the scuffle.

Police didn’t find a gun in the garage but a search of the home turned up a shotgun. Watts reportedly told police he used a firecracker in the road rage incident, not a gun. That remains under investigation.

“I feel like he was unarmed. I feel like it could have been a firecracker,” Franklin said. “Obviously when a firecracker goes off, you’ll see a flash. And the bang, which would make it appear to the reporting person that it was a gunshot.”

This incident marks the first time officers have been dispatched to the Verner’s home, he said.

Gazette reporter Wade Allen can be reached at 704-869-1828; twitter.com/gazettewade.